“Why did they stop the zombie hockey game?”/“There was a face off in the corner.”

Hockey has “face-offs,” and there’s a joke:
 
Q: Why did they call timeout in the leper hockey game?
A: There was a face off in the corner.
 
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1984. A zombie version was posted on Twitter on September 24, 2009:
 
“You know why the zombie ice hockey match was cancelled? There was a face-off in the corner.”
 
   
Google Books
Conversation:
How Talk Is Organized
By Margaret L. McLaughlin
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications
1984
Pg. 47:
“Did you hear about the hockey match between the two leper colonies? There was a face-off in the corner.”
       
Google Books
The Jock Joke Book
By Ewell Wince
Toronto, ON: PaperJacks
1988  
Pg. 84:
Why did they call timeout in the leper hockey game?
There was a face off in the corner.
 
30 March 1990, Asbury Park (NJ) Press, “Comic’s career grew with joke collection” by Shannon Mullen, pg. B4, col. 5:
“Why did they call a time out at the leper hockey game? There was a face off in the corner.”
(Jackie “The Jokeman” Martling.—ed.)
 
Google Books
The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
A Quasi-musical Freely Adapted from the Novel by Victor Hugo
By Mark Bennett (composer.), Everett Quinton
New York, NY: Samuel French
1992
Pp. 21-22:
GRACIE. Did you hear about the leper hockey game?
VAGABONDS. No!
GRACIE. There was a face off in the corner!
 
Google Groups: alt.tasteless.jokes
4 Leper jokes, and another one.
Dana Lee
3/26/95
(...)
Did you here about the leper hockey team? They had a face off in the corner.
 
Google Groups: alt.tasteless.jokes
Cancelled the Leper Hockey Game last night!
James Charles Rau
4/10/97
The SwampFox….......................... wrote:
>Did you hear that they had to cancel the Leper’s Hockey Game last
>night?
 
>They had a “face-off” in the corner!
 
Twitter
Dave
‏@davesusetty
@serafinowicz You know why the zombie ice hockey match was cancelled? There was a face-off in the corner.
5:22 AM - 24 Sep 2009
 
Twitter
joshua retterer
‏@joshuaretterer
Q: Why’d they stop the zombie hockey game? A: There was a face off in the corner.
6:36 PM - 2 Aug 2011
 
Twitter
Stunt Rocker
‏@dmann11
@leahack Did you hear about the zombie hockey game? There was a face off in the corner!
Badum-Bum
8:06 PM - 4 Oct 2011
 
Twitter
Tara Nicole Azarian
‏@TaraAzarian
@KenManess @theaddymiller Why did the zombie hockey game end?  There was a face off in the corner…
7:12 AM - 21 Dec 2011
 
Google Books
Sports Jokes!
By Michael Dahl
North Mankato, MN: Stone Arch Books, a Capstone imprint
2014
Pg. ?:
Why did the referee stop the zombie hockey game?
There was a face off in the corner.
 
Reddit—Dad Jokes
Why did they have to stop the zombie hockey game? (self.dadjokes)
submitted August 3, 2015 by Numerolophile
Because there was a Face Off in the corner.
 
a plus
15 Of The Most Embarrassing Dad Jokes Of All Time
Please stop.
CAMILLE LAWHEAD AUG 05, 2015
(...)
6. “Why did they have to stop the zombie hockey game?”
“Because there was a Face Off in the corner.” -Numerolophile
 
YouTube
Jokes - Why did the referee stop the leper hockey game? There was a face-off in the corner.
jokesus
Published on Aug 19, 2015
Joke :
Why did the referee stop the leper hockey game?
There was a face-off in the corner.